Moldova: 3 men sentenced for trafficking people for kidneys

CHISINAU, Moldova – A Moldovan court has sentenced three men to seven years in prison on charges of human trafficking after they transported three Moldovans to Turkey to have their kidneys removed.

The Chisinau Appeal Court sentenced the three Thursday, five years after they were sent for trial. The ruling can be appealed.

Prosecutors said from 2001 to 2002 the men recruited three Moldovans, who were flown to Turkey following a medical examination.

An Israeli citizen, Zis Michael Naum, took them to a private clinic in Istanbul, which has since been closed. They received between $4,000 and $10,000 each for a kidney, which was then sold for transplantation.

Naum was detained in Ukraine and extradited to Israel in 2009 to be investigated for human trafficking and falsifying documents.